do it for the kids

"Dear Lego Company:I am 7 years old and I love legos but I don’t like that there are more Lego boy people and barely any Lego girls. Today I went to a store and saw legos in two sections the girls pink and the boys blue. All the girls did was sit at home, go to the beach, and shop, and they had no jobs but the boys went on adventures, worked, saved people, and had jobs, even swam with sharks. 'I want you to make more Lego girl people and let them go on adventures and have fun ok!?!" (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2550322/Girl-7-writes-strongly-worded-letter-Lego-complaining-lack-female-figurines-adventures.html)

This is a letter from seven year old girl named Charlotte Benjamin. Charlotte became an internet icon overnight after her father posted her letter online. We are inclined to think of social critique as coming from adults who have studied the subject extensively and are considered experts, but the profundity of the above critique is derived precisely from the author's youth. Charlotte's letter shows us that despite our efforts to protect our children from the unfairness of the "real world," they are indeed very aware of such inequalities. In recent years, there has been an increased focus on recruiting more women to science and technology careers, starting from sparking interest in these subjects in school. However, before children are even enrolled in pre-kindergarten, they have already been affected by the daily manifestations of traditional gender roles, from color-coded onesies to gendered toys.

A new toy company called Goldie Blox is aiming to fill the niche. By designing and producing construction toys from a female perspective, Goldie Blox aims to introduce more young women to the possibilities of engineering, technology, and innovation. Although I appreciate the approach of the company, it seems problematic that there was ever a need to be met in the first place. Why are the majority of construction toys gendered nowadays?

A series of advertisements for Lego from 1980-1982 show that the current standard in toy advertising has not always been the status quo (http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2009/07/17/vintage-lego-ad/). In contrast to current Lego advertisements, which differentiate between toys that are marketed towards boys and toys that are marketed towards girls, these vintage advertisements show both sexes with gender-neutral toys. Before Lego introduced a series called "Lego Friends" marketed only towards girls, their toys were advertised as building pieces that inspire creativity and imagination in any child. One such advertisement states that "the feeling of accomplishment children get from building with LEGO brand is something no child should miss" (http://designbeep.designbeep.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/22.vintage-lego-ads.jpg). The effectiveness of this advertisement lies in its uplifting and inclusive message: no matter girl or boy, any child can achieve the ideal that is being sold.

Now, in 2014, Lego has lost sight of the very ideal that it had promoted decades earlier. It seems like the company is now primarily concerned with increasing its profit by selling products geared towards either boys or girls, rather than with creating opportunities for all children to build and explore. The easy route has always been to market products towards girls based on what they already know and have been exposed to for their entire lives. The challenging route, though it may not bring in a huge profit, dares to go against the grain of established gender roles in order to challenge girls' preconceived notions about their own limits, and inspire them to achieve beyond what they thought was possible.